This invention relates to polymers and copolymers of 3-ethyl-1-hexene (3EH1). Furthermore, it relates to a process for making polymers and copolymers from 3-ethyl-1-hexene.
Polyolefin compositions and processes for making polyolefin compositions are well known in the art. It is also known in the art, that polyolefin compositions can be divided into two distinct classes of compounds. These classes are called amorphous polymers and crystalline polymers. These classifications broadly define the physical properties of the polymers that fall within these groups. For example, amorphous polymers lack a definite crystal structure as well as a defined melting point. On the other hand, crystalline polymers have a definite crystal structure as well as an easily identifiable crystalline melting point. Most polyolefin compositions however, would fall somewhere between these two extreme examples. That is, they would tend to have regions which are amorphous and they would also tend to have regions which are crystalline. Therefore, the amount of crystalline regions and the amount of amorphous regions will determine, in general, the physical properties of the polyolefin composition.
It is known in the art that 3-ethyl-1-hexene has been listed, in patents, as a polymerizable olefin. Usually however, the 3-ethyl-1-hexene monomer is included in a laundry list of polymerizable olefins. It should be noted however, that although the 3EH1 monomer is listed as a polymerizable olefin, there are no known examples of polymerizing 3EH1 in the art. Additionally, in contrast to this invention, there are no known cases of polymerizing a substantially crystalline 3EH1 homopolymer.